Tibet Trip Part 6 - Mountain Passes

A stupa with Mt Nojin Kantsang on the background. At Karo La.

As promised, I'm going to talk about the mountain passes that we went to during the trip! These mountain passes offer beautiful views and thus they deserve a special post. We went to a total of 5 different mountain passes. Two on the way to Gyantse (Kamba La and Karo La), three on the way to Basum (Tropu La, Gyatso La and Pang La). They are all located in different elevations and offer unique views. From rolling hills, to snow-capped mountains and the Himalayan mountains.

 The view from Kamba La

Kamba La pass (elevation 4280m) is located right before we reached Yamdrok Lake. It is here that I broke my elevation record mwahaha. It is a beautiful mountain pass at the end of a winding road, offering a beautiful view of the roads and hills in the distance. Sadly the weather was a bit cloudy when we were there. But nevertheless the yellow grass and the grey sky kinda gave a wonderful scenery.

 The most bad-ass dog award goes to...

There were a few locals who were handling their Tibetan Mastiff dogs! And they are so cute haha. I took a photo of one of them, probably the most bad-ass dogs I've seen heh.

 Prayers flags near Karo La

The next pass is Karo La (elevation 5045m), it is located before we reached Gyantse. We went to two spots here. The first one is a spot before the pass itself with a beautiful view of the surrounding snow-capped mountains and there was also a beautiful stretch of prayer flags on top of the road. It is a beautiful sight to see, the prayer flags dancing in the strong wind.

 Mt Nojin Kangtsang. See the avalanche?

Then we came to the pass itself and in the background, stands Mt Nojin Kangtsang (elevation 7191m). The mountain is huge and it is still covered in snow. Near the pass there is a stupa with a picture of Guru Rinpoche. While we were there, there was an avalanche in the mountain. And I didn't realise that I took a photo of it after I returned home and went through the photos I took! Lucky shot I guess.

 Tropu La 

Thanks Angely for the photo!

On the way to Basum, we stopped by three passes. The first one is Tropu La (elevation 4540m) and it offers a beautiful view of the rolling Tibetan hills in the distance. It's a common restroom stop I think. So there were lots of other tourists in the pass while we were there. I was a bit annoyed cause there was this German tourist who was hogging a spot taking photos of himself. While I was there waiting for him to get out of the spot so that he won't be in the frame heh. Oh well, got some nice shots!

 Gyatso La

The next pass is probably my favourite pass from all of the passes we went to. And also one of my favourite places in Tibet - it's Gyatso La (elevation 5248m). It is the highest pass that we went to and it is so beautiful up there. There was a lot of prayer flags that people hang and we were surrounded by hills too. But the place itself sits on an empty grassland, and its vastness is just amazing.

 The prayer flags. That's one of the boys who helped me.

I hung the prayer flags that I bought in Lhasa here, with the help of two Tibetan boys. But my flags were not long enough so I bought two more from them. Tujeche for the help! I'm so impressed by how much they can jump around to help me tie my prayer flag while I was feeling breathless watching them haha.

 It's so quiet here

Some of us went to hike on top of a hill in the distance. I tried to catch up with them but gave up halfway haha. The wind was so strong and I was quickly running out of breath. So I ended up just sitting on the ground on the foot of the hill. just enjoying the afternoon sun. When the wind stopped blowing, the place became very very quiet. I was enjoying the serenity there. It is really a pretty place. I wish I could have hiked to the top though, the view on top must be amazing.

 Taken at Pang La. Everest is on the left, hiding behind clouds.

Last but not least on our journey to Basum, is Pang La (elevation 5050m). This was the place where I see the Himalayas for the first time in my life. The pass is located on top of a high hill that we reached through lots and lots and lots of winding road. I could still remember like falling asleep on my seat and then suddenly I heard everyone cheered. When I looked on my left, outside of my window, a row of mountains could be seen in the distance. I suddenly felt so alive and excited hahaha.

 Five of the world's highest peak! Taken on our way to Shegar.

The view is so amazing! Although sadly Mt Everest was hiding behind the clouds. But seriously, I will never forget this moment. I've never been in the Himalayas before and neither have I seen the Himalayan mountains. So when I was there at the pass, I couldn't help but to feel so happy to see them! I think all of us were truly wowed by the incredible view. And also it was here that I experienced the strongest wind I have ever felt. I couldn't even talk properly cause it was too strong :P

Alright that's all for the mountain passes that we went to! Next I'm going to talk about other places that we stopped by on our way back to Lhasa - Shegar and a few stops near the Yarlung river.

 Sunset in Shegar

We stayed in Shegar for one night before making our way back to Shigatse. I didn't get the chance to explore the town, but I did share a great evening with Angely, Karli and Will! So it was after dinner and Will returned to our room first. I went to see Jamie first to pass her some medicine and when I returned back to the room, Will was packing his bags and he asked if I wanna join him to see the sunset. It was still quite early so I joined him. And then we asked Karli and Angely and we were all set.

 Beer, sunset, laughter. What else can you ask for!

We went to this spot near a river that offers a beautiful view of the sun setting. Will bought a couple of beers and we were sharing them, over a chit-chat session and just appreciating the view in front of us. Although it was here when it hit me that... The trip is coming to an end. I really didn't wanna leave Tibet, it's been a wonderful wonderful 8 days in this beautiful land and well, that evening was really a great chapter of an incredible journey's epilogue. Thanks for that evening guys! I'm going to miss you all.

 Part of the Yarlung

On our way back to Lhasa on the 27th, we drove along the Yarlung river. It was a road that we haven't been on (we took a different route on our way to Gyantse from Lhasa) and the view of the river is amazing. The water of the river is turquoise in colour and we can see it flowing beautifully. 

 On our way to Lhasa

I was feeling really sad on that day because we would be leaving Lhasa the next day, heading for home. But well, the Yarlung river reminds me that time always moves on and nothing is permanent in this life. I am just holding on to the faith that I will one day return to Tibet. There is a time for everything and everything will be beautiful in its time. So well, I'm really hoping that I'll come back again :)

I was listening to a lot of Buddhist chants on our way back to Lhasa and as I looked out of the window, and reflect on the past 9 days, I couldn't help but weep a little. Because Tibet has been such an amazing amazing place, and the Tibetans are some of the most wonderful people I've met on earth. I really felt like I didn't want to leave this place. And I just want to give nothing else but all my blessings to this wonderful land and her people. I've definitely left a piece of my heart in Tibet.

Alright, that's all for this special post about the mountain passes, and that is all for the trip! I'm going to talk about the thoughts I have about this whole incredible journey in the next post, and conclude this Tibet series. It's been an awesome time reminiscing about my days there.

PS: Happy 1200th post my dear cloudsofsunday!